If you’ve ever wanted proof that life is art, just listen to the methodical beats of Aesop Rock. Born Ian Matthias Bavitz in Northport, New York, this musician has set off a new wave of the alternative hip-hop movement that first emerged in the late 1990s.

Little known to many of his followers, Aesop Rock’s stylistic renderings stem from his background in classical visual art. A graduate of Boston University, where he studied painting, Bavitz spent his formative years masterfully maneuvering through an inner-conflict between instinct and establishment. In a recent interview with …